


Need

by KatieComma



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: 912, 9x12, But may trigger dubcon, Coda, Episode Divergent, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Not intended as dubcon, Smut, These boys are in love and know each other so well, episode coda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 06:45:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17678462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatieComma/pseuds/KatieComma
Summary: Grace is in the hospital and Danny just cannot deal.That's ok, Steve knows exactly what Danny needs.





	Need

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you thank you thank you to the ENDS of the EARTH to my betas:
> 
> becauseimawinchester - who writes the most brilliant smut - your beta was SOOO HELPFUL!!!
> 
> BlackVultures - thank you so much for your second set of eyes!!!
> 
>  
> 
> This piece is tagged as possible dubcon because it read that way for someone else who read it for me - and I just want to make sure that anyone who might be triggered is warned. 
> 
> It's NOT dubcon... like... not intended that way AT ALL... and my two betas didn't get that vibe... but I just want to make sure my bases are covered... cause it's a sensitive subject to trigger for someone accidentally.

Danny was pacing up and down a quiet, empty corridor of the hospital when Steve found him. Of course Steve found him. Steve would always find him.

Steve all but ran to Danny, grabbing him before they were close enough to hug, like he couldn’t wait, and crashing against him, arms hugging tight.

“You ok, Danny?” Steve asked as he pulled back.

Of course he wasn’t ok. His little girl was in surgery and things were… “complicated,” no more info forthcoming. But Danny didn’t want to talk about that. If he talked about that he knew he would break down. He fisted his hands in the front of Steve’s t-shirt to prevent the guy from moving too far away. “Danno. Call me Danno,” he said, feeling tears in his eyes. “I really need to hear someone call me Danno right now.” He didn’t look at Steve, but instead focused on his hands gripping soft cotton.

“Listen Danno,” Steve obeyed, “Gracie’s gonna be fine. She’s strong and stubborn, just like her old man.”

Danny felt the fear quiet in him and looked up into Steve’s face with a weak smile. “She gets the stubborn part from you I think, actually.”

Steve smiled. And there it was, laid bare between them while Danny was raw and unable to keep it caged: that something between them that felt uncannily like love and lust and comfort all wrapped up in happiness. Danny didn’t have the energy to fight it, so he gripped the soft cotton tighter between his fingers and pulled Steve down for a kiss that was sweet and chaste; lips pressing and fitting together like they were meant to.

“Danno…” Steve spoke so soft against Danny’s lips it was barely audible. There was a big question looming in that one breath.

“Not right now Steven,” Danny answered.

Steve knew exactly what he meant. Danny could feel it in the way Steve’s fingers relaxed where they gripped Danny’s shoulders. This wasn’t the time for a serious life discussion, it was a time for comfort.

Shoes squeaking on clean tile floor drew Danny’s attention. They didn’t jump away from each other like Danny had always imagined they would if anything happened between them; they were too drained and too ready to take solace in each other. Instead Danny shifted to the side and peered around Steve’s wide shoulders to see Rachel rushing out of the corridor, Danny’s oversized sweater hanging like a tent on her small frame.

His first instinct was that something had happened to Grace. Something had happened and Rachel had come to find him. Danny chased after her, running and gaining speed as he rounded the corner, where he almost bumped into her. She stood anxiously, chewing at her fingernails. Danny set his arms to her shoulders. Now he had to go back to being the backbone of his family again. Steve loomed behind Danny, lending him strength.

“What’s the matter?” Danny asked Rachel. “What happened?”

Rachel shook her head, her eyes full of tears but downcast to the floor. “Nothing more,” she squeaked out. “I just… needed…” She looked up and met his eyes. And there was fear there.

“It’s ok,” Danny said, pulling her close. “I got you.” He cradled Rachel’s head and held her tight. Danny couldn’t offer the same reassurance Steve had. Danny couldn’t promise that Grace would be ok. He didn’t have that faith in the universe, and he knew the lack of conviction would show in his voice. Feeling that strong, unwavering presence hovering behind him, Danny reached back a hand that found Steve instinctively and pulled him into the hug. Rachel opened her arms and somehow they all fit together, relaxing against each other, supporting each other.

Once Rachel had calmed down again, the three of them walked back to the waiting area. Rachel retreated to one of the couches to cuddle deeper into Danny’s sweater and play with her tablet, probably still fiddling with pictures of Grace. Danny stayed in the hall with Steve.

The busy, bustling hall. 

This was the point where they had a chance to return to the way things had been. Where they could brush off what happened in that dark corridor as a mistake brought on by the whole emotional and stressful situation.

But Danny didn’t want that. And he’d known from the way Steve had said his name, full of question before they’d been interrupted, that Steve didn’t want that either.

So Danny did the only thing he could think of to solidify the crumbling moment they’d started. He took a firm grip on Steve’s t-shirt, just above his navel and pulled him down for another sweet kiss; in the middle of the bustling hospital hallway. It was brief and he pulled back after only a moment, Steve’s surprised face all wide eyes and slack jaw. Danny put a comforting hand to the side of Steve’s neck. Something just a little more intimate than the touches they would have shared before.

“Keep texting me updates on the case, please?” He said, as though kissing his partner was the most commonplace thing, though the tender hand resting at Steve’s pulse point said different.

“Of course,” Steve said with a smile, leaning into Danny’s touch. “You got it.” He put a hand to the small of Danny’s back as he walked past him down the hall and away.

Danny immediately felt cold for the loss of warmth and support. Rachel was there, but for Rachel he had to be the rock, the strong one. He just wanted to fall into someone else and let them hold him up. He could barely stand with fear and worry and lack of sleep, but he had to keep standing.

 

 

Two days after Grace had come out of her surgery, and Danny still hadn’t left the hospital. The staff were all looking at him like he was crazy and he was definitely abusing his Five-0 status to linger. Even Rachel had left, confident in the nurses and doctors to care for Grace. But not Danny. Nobody was better qualified to look after his little girl than he was. Didn’t matter how many PHDs they had.

Grace was down for a nap, still on the good drugs. Danny sat in his favourite chair in the waiting room, considering another bad lunch from the cafeteria, when Steve sat down across from him.

Since the day of those kisses, they’d shared casual, tender touches whenever Steve visited Grace. But Danny had been so focused on waiting and worrying, that whatever was starting up between them had been put on hold.

“Hey,” Danny greeted with a smile, feeling happier by the day for Grace’s improvement.

“We gotta talk Danny,” Steve said seriously.

Oh no. Had he had enough time to reconsider? Danny didn’t think so. Although Steve was better at spur of the moment and less so at having time to really dwell on something and overthink the pros and cons, Danny really didn’t think they were on different pages. Not based on the way they’d been trading looks and touches.

Danny swallowed hard. “Ok, about what?” He tried to sound casual, but his body and nerves were so frayed that it came out almost frantic.

“You need to go home Danno,” Steve said affectionately. He leaned forward, elbows on knees, and grabbed Danny’s hands. “You haven’t showered in three days man. You’ve gotta get out of this place.”

Danny nodded, and felt a little frustration and anger bubble under the surface. Why could no one understand? “Ok, except my little girl is still sleeping in a hospital bed and-”

“She’s gonna be just fine,” Steve said sternly. “There are doctors and nurses around and she’s being watched every second. She’ll be just fine until you come back tomorrow and visit.” And then he tacked on, with a strict tone: “During regular visiting hours.”

Danny felt his heart speed up a little. What if something happened while he was gone?

Steve tightened his grip on Danny’s hands. “It’s gonna be ok. She’s ok,” he said. And the confidence that he poured into those words was the final thing that pushed Danny over the edge. Nothing the doctors had said had even resonated in his skull long enough to convince him to leave. But Steve’s absolute conviction did it. Those words made Danny realize that he’d had a headache for two days, that his muscles ached everywhere from sleeping in crappy waiting room chairs, that he was tired beyond reason and needed a real bed, that he wanted something real and good to eat instead of disgusting reheated cafeteria food.

“Come on, let’s get outta here,” Steve motioned toward the door with his head.

“Sounds like a plan babe,” Danny said.

He let Steve pull him up from the chair. They kept their hands tangled together as they went out to the parking lot. Steve put Danny in the passenger seat of the Camaro, and for once Danny didn’t feel like he should be the one driving his own car. He wouldn’t have known how to work the gear shift in his current state.

Steve pulled out of the lot and started heading toward Danny’s house. The realization hit Danny and he let it pour out of his mouth. “I can’t be there right now, I just can’t,” he fumbled to explain. “Right now it’s just an empty house.” He knew Steve would understand. Steve would know that Danny wouldn’t be able to do anything but stand in the doorway of Grace’s bedroom and stare, thinking about how close he came to losing her forever.

Steve flicked on the police lights, and made a fairly reasonable u-turn. Fairly reasonable for Steve, but Danny still had to grab for the dash.

They pulled up in front of Steve’s house and he killed the engine.

Inside, Steve immediately started up the stairs. “Come with me,” he said simply.

Danny followed, ready to fall down from exhaustion, except for that pesky energy still plucking at him that kept him strung tight, keeping his eyes open. He followed Steve into the master bedroom, into the ensuite.

Steve turned the shower on, letting it heat up while he turned back to Danny. There was no hesitation in Steve’s eyes or actions, he just took Danny’s face in his hands and kissed him softly. The same as that first kiss they’d shared: mouths fitting together and getting used to how great it felt just to press there and hold, skin against skin. At the same time he massaged at Danny’s jaw. The muscles there had been clenching tight for so long Danny didn’t even realize he was doing it anymore. The firm pressure from Steve’s thumbs relaxed those muscles soft, until Danny’s mouth opened and they tasted each other for the first time. No tongues meeting, just lingered breath and shared space.

The ache in Danny’s head started to abate almost immediately.

Steve backed off, and pulled his hands away.

Danny kept his eyes closed, the warmth of the steam from the shower, and the heat from Steve’s proximity combining to provide a wonderful calming sensation that passed down his body like the opposite of a shiver.

Steve slowly and carefully undressed Danny. And before long he was putting a soft pressure on Danny’s lower back, urging him toward the shower.

Danny stepped into the hot water, and opened his eyes to find Steve still fully dressed and retreating to the bedroom. He left the bathroom door ajar, as if to say: I’m right outside if you need me.

Normally, not having his specialty shampoos and shower gels would have put Danny off. Instead he washed with Steve’s all-in-one shampoo and body wash. His hair wouldn’t thank him, but suddenly all Danny could think about was the fact that he hadn’t felt clean in days. It seemed like weeks.

When Danny walked out of the bathroom, towelled down, but naked, Steve sat on the edge of the bed, stripped to his boxers, waiting.

On the bedside table there was a little display that asked for permission without words: a few bottles, and a shiny foil packet. Steve knew exactly what Danny needed.

Almost exactly.

Danny walked over to the table, picked up the condom, met Steve’s eyes, opened the table drawer and dropped it back inside. This wasn’t some one-night stand, or someone with an ambiguous history, this was Steve and the trust between them was complete. No more barriers between them.

That lit a fire under Steve’s skin that was visible to the naked eye. A wild red flush that suffused his whole body before racing up to his eyes.

Steve stood up and walked over to Danny. Looming over him, this solid wall of strength and beauty. Like a big, tanned statue; a statue that was a little weathered and had seen better days, scars marring the surface but not destroying the beauty.

They kissed as if they’d done the same thing a million times before. Familiar and comfortable and seemingly practiced. It was a testament to just how well they knew each other. Danny put his hands to Steve’s stomach, and flexed his fingers against the skin there, digging in with his fingertips. Steve’s hands followed Danny’s hips around to his back, circling him in an embrace.

Mouths opened and tongues met and there again was that familiarity that Danny wanted to sink into.

Stumbling blindly with closed eyes, concentration on their mouths, Danny’s legs hit the side of the bed. And the idea crept up from the back of his mind: the possibility of sleep. 

Danny slowly came away from the kiss, met Steve’s careful, protective gaze, and turned away toward the bed. He flopped down onto it, grateful and happy for the soft give of the mattress. He knew that Steve wouldn’t be upset if neither of the bedside table bottles were put to use. There’d been no expectation in Steve’s face. Excitement, but not expectation.

Danny pushed his face into the pillows and smelled Steve all around him: sun and sand and sea. He breathed deep and wanted to drift off more than anything, maybe even with Steve’s arm around him, keeping him grounded and safe. But something inside Danny wouldn’t back down, wouldn’t calm and relax, it stayed tense and alert. He almost moaned his frustration into those intoxicatingly scented pillows, when the mattress creaked with Steve’s weight.

Steve crawled on top of Danny and straddled his thighs. He reached to the bedside table and Danny heard the telltale click of a bottle top opening. And then Steve’s hands began to press into the muscles of Danny’s back. There was real strength behind each push and pull of muscle. The sweet smelling oil soaked into Danny’s freshly washed skin as Steve used his hands to warm the oil and the body underneath it.

Steve knew exactly what Danny needed, drawing the stress and tension out of his body with the heel of a palm that pressed deep into the tissue and released muscle after muscle. 

Soon Danny’s whole body felt pliant again instead of taut and stiff. It was like being remade into a new person. But no matter how much Steve worked the muscles, there was something down at Danny’s core that just wouldn’t relax. Something that Steve just couldn’t massage away. Danny wanted to scream and cry into the pillows. All he wanted was rest and to fall into a world where worry and hurt were a thing of the past.

Steve crawled away, the familiar heat and pressure of his body gone.

The click of a second bottle top and Danny knew somehow, even though it sounded the same, that it was a different bottle from the first. Danny kept his face buried in the pillows, because Steve knew what he needed, and he trusted Steve with everything.

Steve’s weight tilted the mattress again, and his heat came close against Danny’s side; skin on skin. Fingers played on Danny’s back, and then moved lower with firm, massaging pressure, letting him know Steve’s intentions. Warm wet fingers played gently before they pushed inside. But Danny was so at ease, so pliable, that even though it felt like too much he relaxed into it and let Steve take control.

Steve’s fingers were gentle and moved slow, but there was no hesitation. No questioning or slowing in the motions, because Steve knew what Danny needed.

While his fingers kept a steady pace, Steve crawled up to plant a kiss at the base of Danny’s neck, and let his lips travel down Danny’s back, dragging through the oil that still hadn’t soaked into the skin. The feel of those lips pressing tender kisses to his spine, was like love incarnate. And with each kiss, Steve pushed his fingers in a little more, lighting up more nerve endings with each pass.

The first time Steve’s fingers reached deep enough to coax a spark of pleasure, Danny barely moved. The sensation flowed through his whole body and he felt it like lightning striking, but he was so relaxed that he just let it pass him by. The second time Steve twisted his fingers just that right way, Danny’s body writhed, and he bit down on the pillow. The third time, he pushed back wanting more, needing more. But Steve knew what Danny needed and didn’t strive to tease or play, just provided. So both fingers slid and twisted again to make Danny want to cry and moan and scream. Instead he gave in to Steve again, letting himself go limp at the hands of the man who would take such good care of him.

It could have been minutes or hours or days for all Danny knew or cared, but finally those fingers retreated. Steve’s sticky hands easily flipped Danny on the bed and their eyes met. There was nothing between them that hadn’t always been there. No shame or regret or indecisiveness. Just the two of them.

Steve had lost his boxers along the way and he slid between Danny’s knees pressing their bodies together. Danny let his legs curl around Steve’s, pulling him even closer. Hot skin on hot skin, mouths against mouths. Promises spilled between them without saying a word. Steve knew exactly what Danny needed: trust and love and everything that went along with it. The sharing of everything, no holds barred.

Steve pulled away just a little, holding himself up on his elbows. He planted one more small and gentle kiss on Danny’s lips before he put their foreheads together and slowly pushed in.

That was it, the last barrier between them. The last thing gone unshared. But Steve knew what Danny needed: no more hiding, no more unknowns.

It was slow going, but they had all the time in the world. Steve was so careful, but never showed reluctance. The breath between them misted and gathered on their skin; wearing the very air from their lungs on each other. And still Steve pushed further; the slow, rough slide of skin on skin; the trembling of Steve’s carefully controlled muscles as he kept himself in check.

Then came the point beyond where Steve’s fingers had been able to reach. The place inside of Danny that was still holding tight to fear, and anger, and the need to be doing something even though there was nothing to do. But Steve knew what Danny needed, and he continued the slow press against that fear, against that anger, until that place came undone just like the rest of Danny had. His whole body melted as Steve met the end and stopped.

And now that Danny was undone, he wanted to be put back together, and Steve knew that too. Their foreheads still pressed together, his hips started slow, a rhythm for the beginner that Danny was to all of it. The slow draw and return gently stroked that place inside Danny that made him see stars.

Danny’s hands slid up Steve’s chest until they were wrapped around the back of his neck, fingers digging into the hair at the base of his skull. Danny felt almost dizzy, like he was tumbling around in space. He held on to Steve to keep him grounded, to keep him from falling forever.

Steve’s breath became more ragged as his speed increased, his body shaking around Danny with the force of their bodies colliding. Steve shifted to balance on one arm, pulled back so their eyes could meet and took Danny in hand with a firm grip, wringing still more out of him; taking any pain or misery and washing it away with pleasure and love.

Once those fingers gripped him tight, Danny fell apart, but it was like falling back together. He was whole again because that was what it meant to be whole: to be loved, and held, and known so completely. Normally a man of many words, even in intimacy, the waves that rolled through and out of him were soundless things, until there was nothing left in his body to release. He didn’t need words with Steve, because Steve knew what he needed to say; saw right through him to the core.

Steve held Danny’s gaze, and soundlessly followed him into that place of pleasure and love and acceptance, falling back together right along with him. Those eyes, the colour of the sea off the coast, widened and misted up with emotion as Steve held tight to him and pushed himself home one last time, holding there as though he could stay forever.

Danny’s body felt boneless and once Steve was spent Danny’s eyes closed on their own from pure exhaustion.

He would sleep. The best sleep he’d had in a long time.

The next things were felt, not seen, because his eyes refused to open as his body and mind pulled him down to dream.

Steve pulled himself from Danny, but the loss wasn’t painful. It didn’t feel like an empty space had been left inside of him. Instead, it felt like a familiar thing he knew he would feel a thousand times or more.

Sleep tugged and pulled and beckoned him down, and Danny gave in, letting Steve hold him close. Somehow Steve knew, just like he always did, exactly what Danny needed.


End file.
